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Joichiro Nishi
Joichiro Nishi is a middle-school (8th grade) veteran of the Gantz world, having arrived there over a year before the beginning of the Gantz. Gantz calls him "Mr. Nishi," which is rather interesting given how informally or derisively he refers to most of the other participants. Appearance He has black hair. Personality Much like how Kurono started out, he is also selfish and has a Social Darwinist approach to life. Nishi is reluctant to reveal anything about the Gantz or himself, but he runs a web site where he posts information about it (carefully avoiding Gantz's rule about informing outsiders, which would in turn prove fatal). Nishi is known to keep a calm and collect mood throughout the entire series. He is cold and blunt about the facts of the Gantz game, not caring about the other players as he has demonstrated on several occasions, and actually said at the start. After Kaze used his 100 points to resurrect him, he wasn't as openly hostile towards everyone, but still didn't bother helping them. When Izumi was facing vampires in the subway, he'd excuse himself, it not involving him, although he called Sakurai to tell him about the events. On the Osaka mission, he went off on his own, hunting, not bothering with the rest of his team. He only told them about the doomsday countdown one week beforehand, not bothering to do it before, seeing no reason to. He believes he can free himself on his own, and doesn't rely on the other players to help him through the missions. Nishi's style of fighting is to use the controller to turn invisible then sneak up on an enemy, firing a Y-gun to wrap them up and send them away. He has also been shown to carry an X-gun with him also. He has stated he enjoys watching people die, and has been shown using an X-gun to explode a cat for fun. Oddly enough, the manga shows him walking away with an erection, suggesting he finds some kind of sexual thrill from killing as well. In the Osaka mission, he waited for the right moment, seeing others dying fighting a boss level monster, but gauged the situation and decided to appear, picking up the H-gun of a dead hunter, and firing it at the thing. In a clear demonstration of just how much of a jerk Nishi can be, after returning from the Italian mission, he having kept the Z-gun he found there, he ignores the pleas of the others to use his hundred points to bring back the Old Man who had died, and instead gets a second H-gun. It is also evident that he dislikes society. In the anime, shortly before his death he states that he didn't hate anyone, but he hated society because it was so 'fucked up' and he had difficulty keeping on track. In the manga, he berates Kato for being a hypocrite and tells him that he swears that the people around them are no different from cattle. He then proceeded to say that society have given into the media and that they had stopped and cannot think for themselves and that Kato is no better because he thinks that Kato, like him couldn't care if the people around them just dropped dead. However, in a recent chapter, much to Nishi's own surprise, he chooses to save Takeshi from an explosion caused by aliens in the apartment after Gantz was hacked. He yells that he doesn't understand what is happening to him. Background It would appear that Nishi and Izumi have a past relationship as "teammates" before Izumi's memory was wiped and he won freedom. It has not been revealed if Nishi and Izumi were friends or just acquaintances forced to fight Aliens together by Gantz. Nishi's mother killed herself, and he was very upset by this. In chapter 364:Dissonant Resonance, it is revealed that Nishi's father appears to be a homeless man. Nishi's father is describing to his friend that even before she killed herself, Nishi was not quite right. His father says that Nishi killed cats and that they (he and his wife) would find their heads stuffed in bins in his room. He says that one day, after his mother's suicide, Nishi ran away and never came back. In both of Nishi's death scenes, we see him calling out for his mother while crying. This suggests that he was likely very attached to his mother. And after she died, he probably developed some mommy issues. Plot Gantz/Minus Here it has been revealed what happened before his death, Nishi returns from the school only to see his mother hanging on a rope dead. After seeing his mother dead, Nishi committed suicide by jumping down from a rooftop. Onion Alien Mission Arc When first seen in the room, he is the only participant already wearing a suit. He doesn't try to help anyone, not caring about anyone else. After being transported the mission area, he lies to the group claiming that he is the son of the producer of a show they are participating in. He tells them that there is a monetary reward for whoever catches the alien displayed by the black sphere. Most of the group goes off to do this, and he just disappears, going into stealth mode. He explains later on he uses others to lure out the boss, and then kills it. He is impressed Kurono had enough sense to wear his suit. He does not reveal any information to them. Tanaka Alien Mission Arc Nishi is killed at the beginning of the Tanaka/Suzuki Alien mission, but after six months of existing only inside Gantz's memory banks, he is revived by Kaze at Kurono's request at the end of the Oni mission. Ostensibly, Kurono hopes that Nishi will be able to provide information about Gantz to the game players. However, as previously stated, Nishi's knowledge of Gantz is very limited, and the only information he can give to the Gantz team is the existence of 'Katastrophe'. Unfortunately, he knows nothing else about it, though suggests it may be a nuclear war. Nurarihyon Alien Mission Arc In the battle against the Nurarihyon, Nishi hit the 100 points alien with one of the weapons the Osaka team dropped, but failed to kill it and as a result had his right arm blown off. He returned from that mission alive, and fully restored, and was shown to have earned 75 points on that mission, his first since being brought back to life. Gantz/Nishi Special As a side note, there is a love interest for Nishi in the manga series. She is only refered to as 'Ryo-chan', as shown in the name section of her cellphone in the Gantz: NIshi SP (special). Here, she is shown following Nishi, because a group of people at their school highly disliked the male, saying 'he kills cats'. She followed him, in hopes of taking pictures and proving once and for all whether or not he did so. But when a cat did in fact come in contact with him and he slipped into an alley, she followed him, but he had disappeared, using his Gantz suit. When he revealed himself and questioned her, she confessed non-existent feelings for him as a way of brushing off her stalking, to which he seemed uncaring. Italian Alien Mission Arc At the end of the Osaka arc Nishi received a total of 75 points. He then tells the team that the world is going to be destroyed in approximately one week from now. In Chapter 287, we're given a glimpse of his school life; he being a social outcast who was bullied constantly by his classmates. They even go so far as to throw him out of a window to kill him, coming up with an excuse to say he was "fooling around and fell". The Gantz suit saved his life, and he decided to take revenge on his classmates. Nishi returned to the classroom only to slaughter every single one of his classmates with the exception of one girl who had never done anything to him (she also had a crush on him, although it's debatable if this was an act of compassion or Nishi simply seeing no reason to kill her). While staying in the school until nightfall, Nishi was faced with a hail of gunfire as a Strike Team was sent into the classroom to kill him. Though he managed to kill some of the strike team, he was eventually shot down. He was nearly killed before Gantz began transferring him back to the room. After surviving what is believed to be the final hunt, Nishi receives enough points to have the hundred point menu appear. Instead of bringing back someone who died, he chooses right away to get a second H gun, he having gotten his first in the recent mission, retrieving it from one of the many dead. The Invasion Begins Arc In chapter 303, Nishi is seen waiting for Katastrophe to commence. At the beginning of the Katastrophe, Nishi and Kato stumble upon each other. Nishi berates Kato, calling him a hypocrite regarding the lives of everyone else around them. Afterwards, after the initial descent of some kind of Mechas, Nishi activates his invisibility. He has yet to be seen after that. Alien Ship Takeover Mission Arc United Rescue Arc In Chapter 328 Nishi is seen for the first time in a while, standing beside the Gantz Ball. Reika asks him how to turn on the Gantz Ball, which shocks him. The ball flies open and Nishi yells at Gantz for being such an ass. The man in the ball tells Nishi that there's no use and tells the others that he'll do anything in his power to help, to which Nishi tells him not to be selfish. After the bombs are removed, Nishi goes on to explain about the guys who transported them. He says they're all Zaibatsu big wigs and they had prepared for the Katastrophe long before it occurred. He goes onto explain that they are planning to take over the world now that America and China are out of the picture, and that all they have to do is defeat the giants. Reika asks him if the ball can be used to communicate with the other Gantz's and the guy in the ball says that it can. When they plan to use the ball to communicate with other Gantzers, Nishi mocks them and tells them how naive they are. When the plan works and they get a response, Nishi is shocked and wonders how they managed to get a response. When the first hunter arrives in the room and greets everyone, he goes to shake Nishi's hand. When Nishi refuses and glares at him, Takeda states that he's at "that age" and that Nishi is a cute kid, much to Nishi's annoyance. He watches as other hunters are transferred into the room. While the others are inside the alien mothership rescuing humans, Takeshi and Nishi stay behind in the apartment. Nishi says that they are all morons who will just end up dying. Takeshi says that his "Papa" will definitely comeback but Nishi says otherwise. This angers the child who ends up back-attacking Nishi, which knocks the middleschooler down. Surprisingly, he does not react against the kid, which demonstrates that Nishi respects (or fears) Kaze, in some way. When Kurono finds out that they have not rescued that many people and there are still more up there, they try to formulate a plan. Nishi pipes up and tells them to stop acting like idiots. In chapter 340, Nishi and Takeshi are attacked in the Gantz apartment when the Gantz ball is hacked, sending several aliens into the room, while trying to connect to the air compressor room in the large spaceship. Nishi is initially reluctant to fight, but as the aliens attempt to overwhelm him, he fights back. Nishi gets pushed back into the weapons rack on the ball and gets out two guns, shooting and killing most of the aliens in the room. More get sent in and eventually overwhelm Nishi. The aliens blow themselves up, just as Nishi escapes the apartment. Nishi lands on the ground at the foot of the apartment building and it is revealed that he saved Takeshi. He questions his actions and realizes that Gantz was caught up in the explosion. He races around searching for the ball and finds it. To his horror, the man inside the ball appears to have died and has large gashes in his skull, and part of his head crushed in. Destroy the Tower Mission Arc Traveling nearly without destination, Nishi and Takeshi stumble upon a laptop with internet connection. Trying to find out what happen, Nishi access the internet and discover that a hidden human faction (said to be group of Japan's most powerful people) is about to open a final front by attacking the Alien ship's weakness with Gantz technology based very large assault mech (declared to be the largest in the faction's arsenal), piloted by Gantz participants (with some apparently brought against their will, again). Overjoyed, Nishi hack in to get into the game, before get teleported to one the mech to pilot. There he starts hacking at the tower when he's interrupted by Kurono, whom after saving Tae inherits Fra Rarada's will and is trying to prevent the Alien civilization to fall apart; Nishi on the other hand claims to want to go back as the most powerful human being and vows to destroy Kurono. During the battle he intentionally aims at Tae, seemingly killing her, to which Kurono reacts going berserk managing to destroy Nishi's armor. Defeated and in order to be spared and carry on his agenda Nishi claims there's still a way for Gantz to revive the girl but he has to accomplish what he was trying to do since he no longer has an armored suit. Tae had been blown away though, and was holding to the edge of the building, so just before Kurono relenting he hears her voice and abandons Nishi is the tower with Nishi cursing at him. Left in the tower Nishi vows to kill Kurono before ordering Gantz to transfer him back, soon he realizes there's no response and he's left on the tower blowing up, shaking in a corner murmuring for his mom and how he longs to live. The Final Challenge Arc After Kurono fights the Giant Aliens war hero, killing them. The last giant alien soldier commits suicide and the spacecraft starts a self-destruction sequence — Ignoring Kurono's order to just flee away and seek for an uninhabited planet to live on — most part of the hunters escape in the flying bikes. The mothership explodes annihilating all giant aliens remaining. As Nishi was stuck, hopeless, in the top of the tower in his last appearance, is strongly probable that he has been killed in the explosion too, even though his death has not been shown. Abilities & Skills Quotes Differences between the manga and anime * The lie he tells during the Onion Alien Mission differs between the anime and manga. In the manga, he whispered to Yamada that the reward for catching the alien would be 10 million yen and convinced the others that they had been placed under hypnosis and that it was all a TV show made by his father (who he claimed was the producer). In the anime, he immediately announced to everyone that the aliens were real and that they were all hired by a government agency to exterminate the aliens (this was also said in the manga, but only after he told everyone it was just a TV show). In addition, his father, Vice-Minister Nishi, is part of the Cabinet Information Bureau who Suzuki recognizes as someone who never lies and makes the whole group believe him and go along with the hunt (except Suzuki, who still decides to go home). References Navigation Category:Male characters Category:Living characters Category:Revived characters Category:Tokyo Gantz team Category:Playable characters in Gantz video game Category:Katastrophe team